This is one of the Bibles the Happy Buddy enjoys reading before bed each night.
I found it interesting that over the last several months since the Happy Baby has been in the hospital, God has used that little children’s Bible to teach me some pretty profound lessons.
Around the time that the Happy Baby was born, the Happy Buddy got hooked on this story about Jesus calming the storm (Matthew 8:23-27).
The Happy Buddy requested it night after night and I began to realize that I was acting just like the disciples in the boat.
Initially, I panicked about the storm we were going through.
I cried out to Jesus (who, in my opinion, seemed to be sleeping through the whirling mess around us).
And He reminded me to not be afraid… To have faith.
That He controls the wind and the waves and is with me in the midst of the storm.
Then the Happy Buddy got really excited about this story concerning a paralyzed man and his friends who lowered him through the roof to Jesus (Mark 2:1-12).
I started to see that I was like the paralyzed man – unable to move (in my case because of fear) and probably without hope of ever being saved.
It was the faith of his friends that brought his healing.
As our church (and all of you, sweet blog friends) came around us with prayers, hugs, cards, gifts, and encouragement, I felt lifted up on my little mat and carried straight to Jesus for the healing my own heart so desperately needed.
Next the Happy Buddy started requesting this story about a blind man (John 9:1-12).
The disciples asked Jesus about the blind man, “Teacher, did this man sin? Or did his parents sin? Is that why he is blind?”
And I thought of the hundred different things I did or ate while pregnant and wondered if I had caused the Happy Baby’s sickness.
But Jesus’ response to the disciples was simple and life-giving, “No one sinned. This happened so that God’s work could be shown in his life.”
God has shown His good work and purposes in our baby’s life and in our own lives as a result of this ‘blindness’ – this season of trial.
The second part of this story also helped me the week the Happy Baby was on the CPAP machine…
I was overwhelmed at first by the sight of my precious little boy having such a large and obstructing contraption on his face.
In the story, Jesus spit on the ground and made mud with his hands. Then he gently spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes.
When the mud was washed away, the blind man could see!
A friend texted me saying if Jesus could accomplish healing through something as strange and unattractive as mud on a person’s eyes, than surely He could do the same with a tubey, loud CPAP.
The Happy Buddy moved onto this story about a man named Jairus whose daughter was very sick.
By the time Jesus got there, the daughter had died.
At this point in the NICU journey, the Happy Hubby and I were told that our baby was probably not going to make it.
Many of the doctors thought the Happy Baby had a rare and incurable genetic disease (on top of the virus he had contracted while growing in my tummy).
Like Jairus, the Happy Hubby and I had to wait for Jesus.
We had to wait 7 long weeks for the genetic test results.
But would Jesus heal our boy as he did Jairus’ daughter?
The day the Happy Baby was born, I felt a deep assurance from the Lord that he would be okay.
When you’re faced with medical evidence and the opinion of professional doctors and nurses, however, it was easy to forget what God had spoken.
In the last two months I constantly acted like Peter, in this final Bible story, who, when his eyes focused on the wind and waves storming around him, began to sink.
There were many days when I took my eyes off of Jesus and felt myself going down because I let what doctors said and speculated cause me to lose hope.
I even closed the door to the Happy Baby’s nursery and refused to wash some of the tiny outfits we’d been given for him because it was just too painful to think that he might not make it.
But when I fixed my gaze on Christ and what I believe He had said to me concerning the Happy Baby’s future, then my foundation was sure.
Walking in that confidence, we received the news last Sunday that our gift from the Lord does not have a genetic disease.
Jesus has brought healing to our son in so many ways.
He has been with us in the storm.
He has given us the Church to carry us to Him when we’ve been too weak.
He gave us hope through the mud on our eyes.
He, in a way, brought our son back from the dead.
And He has given a firm foundation on which we can walk when our gaze is fixed on Him – no matter what the winds and waves of life are doing around us – because we are still fighting battles (ie. feeding).
So, dear Happy Home Friends, I am delighting in the spiritual milk of His Word which God has used to nourish my soul in this season and am praying that the Happy Baby will crave the milk of his bottles.
Because if that lil’ booger can eat then we’ve got ourselves one giant homecoming ticket!
“Like newborn babies, thirst for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in your salvation.” 1 Peter 2:2
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